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31 May, 2015

It's been a while since I've done one of my Beauty Click favourites post so to refresh your memory these posts feature the standouts from the selection of beauty products Australian health and drugstore beauty chainPriceline sent me to review for their website earlier this year. As it happens I've recently received another round of products for review so I'd better get cracking with the backlog of favourites from the first round!

Let's talk lip crayons. Burt's Bees have recently jumped onto the global lip crayon craze which has been around for a couple of years now,and while in all honesty I was feeling a bit fatigued by the whole lip crayon concept after trying my first Burt's Bees Lip Crayon I was prepared to get back on board.

Burt's Bees refer to their new lip crayons as "...colour that truly cares for your lips!"
These lip crayons are formulated to moisturise the lips as they are infused with Shea Butter, Kendi Oil, and Jojoba Oil.

L to R: Sedona Sands (405), Napa Vineyard (435)

My impressions:
I received the nude shade, Sedona Sands in my Beauty Click review box and because I was pretty impressed I went out and bought the deepest shade Napa Vineyard - just for the comparison don't you know!

As with all of the lip crayons I own, these have the typical twist up mechanism and are easy to apply as a liner/lipstick/balm in one. Burt's Bees Lip Crayons are unscented, and offer medium but buildable coverage for the lips. They feel creamy on application and give a matte finish to the lips which is not drying in the least - and is the thing I love the most! You've got to love a matte lip colour you can wear day in, day out without parching your lips! The colour lasts easily 4 to 5 hours on the lips without any bleeding and fades evenly. These were definitely a winner for me and are now favourites because they do deliver in both the colour and care department.

Swatched L to R:Sedona Sands (405), Napa Vineyard (435)

At $16.99AUD there are 6 shades in the range and I plan to pick up a pink shade next to round out my little collection.

Do you have any lip crayons in your makeup stash?

(This product was provided for my consideration. All comments and opinions are my own.)

26 May, 2015

I get slightly obsessed with it from time to time but I hadn't seen an interesting one in a while until I saw this particular polish from OPI.

Green On The Runway was released in OPI's Coca-Cola collection last year and while I tried to hold out, I ended up caving and buying it a few months ago. The duochrome shift from green to burgundy does conjure up memories of Coca-Cola in the green glass bottle which is a good enough reason for me to love it - also it looks like Chanel Peridot's (do you remember that beauty?) gothic cousin shade to me! I've had terrible trouble trying to capture the mystical goodness of this in natural daylight here so take my word for it - it's much better in real life. This is two coats of colour, minus the topcoat this time to maximize the satiny finish...

22 May, 2015

Oh hello, before I get into my NIVEA In-Shower Body Lotion review NIVEA have requested I share some statistics on beauty shortcuts that savvy Australian women (and women worldwide I'm sure!) are employing to squeeze more into their day...

"A new study by NIVEA In-Shower found that the majority of Australian women don’t have enough time to care for their skin the way they’d like to, with nearly three quarters (74%) of the female population saying they want more time to take care of their skin. Motivated to overcome this, 78% of Aussie women are creating shortcuts to maintain the beauty regime - from skin and body care to hair. The research proved this is working by allowing women to squeeze in more. These shortcuts help save the average Australian woman just over eight minutes a day, nearly an hour per week or a full weekend per year. But what is really driving their desire to create and use beauty shortcuts?

Easing stress in the morning proved to be the number one reason for using savvy innovations (46% of women), with a quarter of women (26%) just wanting more time to snooze. However, the research also revealed that almost one out of every two women (45%) are introducing these products or techniques simply because they want to feel better about the way they look or feel in general.

Top beauty and wellness hacks:1. Packing bags out night before - 76%2. Putting work clothes out night before - 51%3. Using double duty products - 39%4. Brushing teeth in the shower - 34%5. Hairstyling the night before - 18%

This means women are demanding beauty products that can keep up with their hectic schedules and help put more beauty care into their day. More than half of all Aussie women (53%) use beauty products that last longer, while almost half (49%) said they use products that multitask. With 50% saying they wished they had more time to take care of their body skin, recent beauty innovations like NIVEA In-Shower Body Lotion are working to meet this demand."

Which brings me to...

NIVEA In-Shower Body Lotion Cocoa Indulging (250ml)

NIVEA says this in-shower body lotion is their first "skin conditioner" which can actually be applied in the shower to wet skin, eradicating the time spent waiting for sticky moisturiser to dry. Taking just seconds to apply, the product ensures smooth and residue free skin in the time it takes you to rinse off, allowing you to squeeze more care into your day while you take a shower.

I'm sounding a bit like a broken record but I'm a typically time poor person as I juggle with full time work commitments, family responsibilities, trying to keep fit and trying to keep on track with life in general - like a lot of people I know! This means I'll jump on board and try any reasonable sounding time saving beauty hack.

My Impressions:

As you can see below this body lotion has a good thick consistency so it doesn't run off my wet skin before I can rub it in. The Cocoa Indulging scent is a subtle, natural Cacao, combined with that hint of classic NIVEA.

After using and rinsing off my usual body cleansing products, I turn off the shower for a few seconds while I squeeze out and slather a generous amount of NIVEA In-Shower Body Lotion all over my wet skin from neck to toe. Then all I have to do is turn the water back on and quickly rinse off - I don't feel greasy at all, just a little hint of a moisturising 'film' coating the skin. All I have to do is towel dry and the whole body moisturising process is done so I can get dressed immediately afterwards.

I found the cocoa scent is more of an in-shower sensory pleasure and it doesn't linger on the skin after drying off so I can wear any fragrance without fear of clashing. In terms of the all important moisturising properties I've found this product has worked surprisingly well at staving off the usual dryness (and itchiness) I suffer in winter and it has definitely simplified my weekday body moisturising routine as I don't have to waste any time at all trying to get product to absorb.

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I was a bit unsure as to whether a rinse-off moisturiser would actually work and be effective at moisturising my body but it does, much like a hair conditioner does for my hair! I will definitely be purchasing another In-Shower Body Lotion in a larger size once this bottle runs out.

NIVEA In-Shower Body Lotion range is available now at the following recommended retail prices:

18 May, 2015

I'm hoping you'll see why I bought the polish starring in this swatch post because to me this moody thing was just beautiful...

Totally D' Accord is another polish from L'Oreal's Shades Of Grey collection and whilst I admit to being a sucker for textured polishes in general, this one is a little bit more than just that. This polish has a definite complexity to it with shimmering shades of silver and dirty charcoal blue glitter in that deep murky base. Application was simply perfection with this polish too, with clean lines and even, 100% opaque coverage in two coats.

16 May, 2015

Being the time poor person I am, most mornings I'll reach for a powder base over a cream or liquid because it's quick, easy to blend and pretty much undetectable. Naturally that makes me a good candidate to try out Rimmel's new 25HR Powder Foundation, the latest offering in their Lasting Finish range. There are raves out there in the blogosphere already so I was ready to love this product...

Rimmel says: "Get buildable coverage with this ultra lightweight dual wear powder, for continuous ﬂawless skin. Rimmel’s dual ﬁnish wet and dry powder foundation applies like a powder but covers like a liquid allowing you to build your desired coverage. Apply dry for a light to medium ﬁnish, or wet for a full coverage look whilst remaining water resistant come rain or shine. The buildable and adjustable coverage masks all imperfections for a ﬂawless ﬁnish that last up to 25 hours."

The packaging is typically youthful in keeping with Rimmel's image and quite compact considering it stores a sponge in a separate compartment as you can see in the picture below. Hallelujah! What you can't see is there's also a mirror hiding in the sponge compartment which makes this very travel-friendly.

I use powder foundation as a faster alternative to liquid foundations so I wear it dry and buff it in with a brush and this is how I tried it initially as demonstrated in the pictures below.

You can see how when applied dry Rimmel's Lasting Finish 25HR Powder Foundation offers medium coverage, toning down my redness and softening uneven pigmentation. However...no matter what primer I applied this over, the coverage was nowhere near the promised 25 hours and would mostly vanish by the end of the day!

I thought I'd get a better and longer lasting finish when applying the foundation wet with the sponge, but that translated as merely more obviously powdery coverage that still managed to disappear from my skin before the end of the day. After lots of trial and error I've found this product works best for me as a setting powder over a liquid product, to mattify and add a hint more coverage.

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I'm really disappointed to have to say I don't get along with this product as a standalone base because I'm usually a big fan of Rimmel's range and I'm a fan of powder and mineral powder foundations. Perhaps it would work better on more youthful, naturally dewier skin?

14 May, 2015

Hey there! I'm back from yet another blogging hiatus and while I work on a product review in the background I've decided to get a quickie swatch post out to warm up the fingers again...

Getting in on that whole Fifty Shades "moment" (I'm surmising), L'Oreal recently released a little Shades of Grey collection comprising six variations on the grey spectrum. It wasn't necessarily about the colour for me but the polishes come in varying finishes and it was the two textured "Spiky Effect" shades which caught my eye - and made me spend my money! Noir Whisper (also called Do Not Disturb depending upon where you are) is a cool steely silver and the textured twist on the usual super smooth silver metallic had me intrigued and I wasn't disappointed. Two coats completely rendered my nails in suitably rough looking silver...